Month: June 2015

Unmetered port for dedicated server means that the server’s bandwidth is charged based on the speed of the connection instead of the amount of data that is transferred through the port per month. This should not be confused with “unlimited bandwidth” as the amount of data/traffic that can be transferred or handled is limited by the speed of the connection plan.

To understand how an unmetered port works, and what it means to have a 10Gbps unmetered port for your dedicated server, we must understand and differentiate between traffic, bandwidth, and throughput.

The traffic on a port is the amount of data being transferred between the server and the Internet over a time period (say, a month). This traffic is usually measured in terabytes (TB) of data per month. Metered ports have traffic limits. Hence, if a server signs up for a 30TB metered port then it means that the server can transfer 30TB over the next month without incurring additional fees. The moment the server exceeds its metered limit (30TB), extra charges are levied on the subscriber.

How fast the metered traffic limit is consumed depends on the bandwidth of the port. Higher the bandwidth of the port, greater is the amount of data that can be transferred across it in shorter time.

Bandwidth of a Connection

Bandwidth is the speed limit at which the port of a dedicated server can transfer data between itself and the Internet. Bandwidth is measured in Megabits per Second (Mbps) and for high end servers in Gigabits per Second (Gbps). Hence, a 10 Gbps bandwidth for a dedicated server defines the size of that port.

However, the bandwidth of a port is always an ideal value. In real life, the bandwidth cannot be used at full limit at all times. It is limited by its throughput.

Throughput across the Port

Throughput is the actual rate of data transfer that can be achieved on a given port. It is always less than the bandwidth (cut off limit) of the port. This occurs because the bandwidth is also used for other network overheads (protocols, encryption, opening and closing bits for data packets, etc.), the location of and number of users on the server, and packet loss, among others.

Hence, the actual traffic on a dedicated server is defined in terms of throughput:

Traffic (MB) = Throughput (Mbps) x Time (Seconds)

In Conclusion — Using an unmetered 10 Gbps Port

If your server transfers data at 100 Mbps 24/7 for an entire month, then it would it would equal about 33,000GB or 33 TB of data. For a 1Gbps unmetered port working 24/7 a month would equal successful transfer of about 330 TB of data.

A 10 Gbps unmetered port would mean that ideally you can push up to 3300 TB worth of data in an entire month (if the port was being used at full potential 24/7 without experiencing any packet loss for an entire month).

This means that your server can ideally transfer between 0 to 3300 TB worth of data in the entire month and will be charged only for the package’s speed.

cPanel is a leader in simplifying hosting environments with intuitive yet powerful dashboards. The cPanel/WHM 11.50 lives up to expectations by adding several new features and improvements to its lauded list of features and offerings.

Here are the 10 new features that you must absolutely know and leverage:

1. Support for CentOS7
Support for fresh installations of CentOS 7 (both 7.0 and 7.1) has been introduced in the latest release. This support introduces the powerful (and recently updated) features of the operating system. The latest upgrades of CentOS7 introduce support for two-factor authentication, a major IPA update, improved support for container, and addition of the OpenJDK8 for developers, and returning the Thunderbird.

Furthermore, you can install the cPanel & WHM with MariaDB instead of MySQL. Learn how with the Installation Guide.

2. Greylisting’s Spam Magic

Protect your server against spam with the new Greylisting feature that defers all emails sent by unknown and new triplets using the new cpgreylist daemon. WHM’s Greylisting feature is accessible through Home>Email>Greylisting, where you can:

3. Calendars and Contacts
Two new protocols, the CardDAV and CalDAV allow Webmail and cPanel account users the ability to remotely create and share their calendar and contacts using third party applications. The protocols can be accessed through on two secure ports (2079 and 2080). The interface can be configured at:

· cPanel users: Home>Mail>Calendars and Contacts Client Configuration

· Webmail users: Home>Mail>Webmail

However, the CalDAV feature will not work with iOS Reminder apps if the server is using a self-signed SSL certificate.

4. A New cPanel User System IDs
The range for possible number of User IDs (UUDs) and Group IDs (GIDs) has been changed. Now servers running CentOS7 can create between 200 to 999 UIDs and GIDs. Other supported OS can create a maximum of 500.

5. Corrupt MySQL System Databases Notifications for Administrators
A new script that runs with nightly maintenance has been introduced for monitoring the MySQL system databases. All essential databases are regularly checked, and in case of a corrupt database, the server administrator will be sent an email — continuously at spaced time periods till the database is no longer corrupt.

6. A Simpler Way to Remove Plugin Files
The uninstall_plugin script (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/uninstall_plugin) introduces a simpler way for removing all the files of a plugin. Further information is available at 11.5’s Uninstall Plugins documentation.

7. Quickly identify trigger visitors with Passive OS Fingerprinting
The GeoIP identifier has been improved and email notifications will offer additional information (including OS). Newer, customizable templates for notifications are available in the Template Toolkit. The additional information allows enhanced visitor segmentation as you can quickly identify visitors that trigger events.

8. Dedicated Horde SQLite Database
The Horde data that was previously stored on MySQL has been move to cPanel’s very own Horde SQLite database. This is valid for only the cPanel & WHM version 11.50. If you decide to migrate to an earlier version, the account’s Horde data will not be exported to the MySQL database for Horde. You will have to perform the migration manually. For any problems with Horde migration, read cPanel’s documentation on Horde Data Behavior

9. Increased Default Password Strength and PostgreSQL Account Suspension
With the 11.50, the strength for the default password has been raised to 40, whereas the PostgreSQL accounts that were previously not been suspended during the suspension process has been corrected.

10. cPHulk stores Login History for an Year
The cphulkd.known_netblock MySQL table store netblock information and username for all successful login. A useful notification for users/admins accessing the server via dynamically assigned IP addresses.

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is an independent server within a server. When a VPS is created, one physical server (master server) is made to host multiple virtual servers. This is done with software (namely, hypervisor) that segments the master server’s hardware specs so that each VPS segment functions separately and independently of one another.

Segmenting a server basically means that each VPS runs its own operating system — one that is independent of the main server, and which can be rebooted at will without affecting any other VPS. It’s primary advantage is in offering hosting at cost-effective rates and with greater freedom of configuring and organizing online servers.

How does a Virtual Private Server (VPS) work?
The functionality of a VPS can be described using four terms: compartmentalization, dedicated resources, root access, and isolated hosting environment.

Compartmentalization
To create a VPS, the physical server is divided into multiple virtual compartments (virtual CPU specs, RAM, hard disk space, etc). Think of it like segmenting a hard disk into multiple drives. However, with a VPS, compartmentalization goes beyond just allocating hard disk space.

Dedicated Resources
When the server software is set up, each virtual compartment is allotted a specific quota for using the master server’s resources. This includes a dedicated percentage of the server disk space, CPU, and RAM. Hence, when your website is hosted in this new compartment it will operate as if the allocated resources make up the specs for its server. This obviously means that the more compartmentalization’s that exist on a master server, the more powerful hardware it deploys.

Root Access
When compartmentalization and resource allocation are complete, the VPS behaves like a standalone, dedicated server. Hence, you will gain complete root access to the server (and hence complete control over server), allowing you to configure the VPS system as per your needs. As a result, every single server is allowed to select its very individual operating system, configure existing components, and setup new ones and be able to restart it at anytime.

Isolated Environment
Compartmentalization creates an isolated environment for your VPS. Whatever changes you make, or configurations you perform on your VPS cannot affect any other VPS on the same system. The same holds true for all other VPS on the master server. Hence, any instances of malware or cyber threats that have affected, or are affecting any VPS on the master server cannot affect your VPS.

Think of it like living in a colony of bunkers, where though each may be sharing the same resource pool, each is self sustaining and completely isolated from neighboring bunkers. Hence, with a VPS, even though all the VPS servers on the master server are sharing the same hardware resources, each will always operate differently from each other. If one server has a problem, it’s there problem alone and none of the other servers will be affected because of it.